


A Grave Mistake

by lost_in_mirkwood



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Flowers on the wrong grave, Meet-Cute, an honest mistake, brief mention of drunk driving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_in_mirkwood/pseuds/lost_in_mirkwood
Summary: Gendry regularly brings flowers to his mother’s grave. One day he notices the near-by grave of an old man never has any flowers so he starts to bring him flowers too.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 12
Kudos: 136





	A Grave Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a twitter thread from @sixthformpoet about how he met his wife
> 
> There is a brief mention of drunk driving and a loss resulting from that, just as a heads up.

Gendry isn’t sure what about the grave caught his attention that day as he was leaving the cemetery. Maybe it was how bare the plot was compared to the flower filled ones around it, including the bouquet of daisies he’d just left at his mother’s headstone. He’d been coming to visit his mother every few weeks for the past few years and had never taken note of who her neighbors were. The name Walder Frey was engraved into the simple grey headstone, along with his birth and death years. He’d been in his early nineties when he’d died a few years past. No other information was written about the man.

The next time Gendry was at the cemetery, this time leaving a small cluster of miniature sunflowers on his mother’s stone, he again noticed the grave of Walder Frey was barren. All around him were families quietly laying flowers and having picnics in the early summer sunshine. It was then that Gendry decided the next time he came to visit his mum he’d bring Old Walder some flowers too. No one deserved to go unremembered, after all.

True to his word when Gendry came next to the cemetery he brought a few pale pink peonies for his mum and a small spray of white flowers for the old man next to her. He spent some time catching his mum up on what had been going on and as he stood to leave he bent and placed the other flowers on Mr. Frey’s grave. He stayed for a little while longer, contemplating the kind of man Walder Frey might have been before continuing on his way.

This carried on for the summer. Gendry would come with new flowers for his mum and every time would pick up a small spray for the old man next to her. He would stand at his grave for a few minutes at the end of his visit and think about Old Walder. He’d died near the holidays, that must have devastated his family, Gendry thought. He wondered if Walder had a large family, they must have all moved away or led very busy lives and not been able to visit their father or grandfather very often. He was probably a wonderful granddad, doting on his young grandchildren, buying them ice cream and taking them to ball games, playing teatime and attending ballet performances. Gendry had never had a grandfather, he didn’t know what they were like, but he imagined Old Walder Frey must have been a good one. 

All his musings came to an abrupt end in the fall. He’d arrived as he usually did, this time with a small pot of chrysanthemums for his mother and a little bouquet of white feverfew for Mr. Frey. As he approached the pair of headstones a small, dark haired woman was standing there staring, no,  _ glaring _ , at Walder’s grave. Gendry realized this must be one of his granddaughters, here to visit her grandfather. Maybe he could finally hear some stories about the old man, he thought. Old Walder must be missing something important for her gaze to be burning a hole in the headstone like it was.

The woman cut her gaze over to him as he approached, taking in the pot of mums one hand and the white flowers in his other. Gendry came to a halt next to her and knelt to place the mums in front of Ella Water’s headstone. He’d wait to have his regular chat with her until Walder’s granddaughter left, she’d understand. Standing, he turned to the granddaughter and held out the flowers to her, “For your grandfather,” he said. “I bring him some every time I come visit my mum.”

The woman arched a dark brow at him, turning her glare from the old man’s headstone on to him directly. Her eyes were the color of the storm clouds that gathered off the coast in the summer, Gendry noticed. Her pink lips pursed in a moue of displeasure. 

“My grandfather?” she asked.

Gendry nodded, gesturing with the flowers towards Walder’s headstone, “Grandfather, great uncle, perhaps? You seem a little young to be his daughter,” she looked near his age, for certain. Maybe the old man had married late or again in his later years and she was his daughter after all.

The arched eyebrow was joined by its twin before both dropped into a fierce expression, “The old arse wasn’t my grandfather,” she spat.

Gendry was taken aback, “Oh, uh,” he didn’t really know what to say.

“You bring this miserable old shit flowers?” the woman was practically growling at him as she jabbed a finger in the direction of Walder's headstone.

“I just, just didn’t want him to be forgotten? I bring my mother flowers almost every week and it began to seem rude to ignore her neighbor,” Gendry tried to explain, realizing that he sounded a little silly. Here he was, buying flowers for a complete stranger. Someone incredibly disliked by the woman next to him for some reason.

The woman huffed but didn’t say anything.

Gendry tried again, “I’m sorry? It’s just. Did he do something awful? No one ever seems to visit him.”

“For good reason,” the woman sneered, “He was a drunk, miserable, old man by all accounts. Married about eight times, had more children than seems reasonable, was generally rude and miserly. Then come Christmastime four years ago he’d had a few too many and crashed his car into my uncle as he was headed home from the grocery store and killed him instantly before driving off. Old bastard didn’t even have the decency to face trial and justice for what he’d done, instead he died in his sleep a few nights later. My cousin turns five tomorrow and starts school this year. I came here to yell at the old bastard for all the things my uncle is missing out on because of him. It’s not going to fix anything but I feel better about it. His family tore themselves apart over his will after he passed, that’s probably why none of them visit.” 

She seemed to run out of steam towards the end. Gendry stood silent next to her, now it was his turn to glare at the headstone marked Walder Frey. Here he’d been thinking that the old man was a kindly and generous grandfather when in fact he’d destroyed a young family and faced no consequences for it.

“Well if that’s the case then he doesn’t deserve any more flowers,” Gendry turned back to the woman next to him. He held out the small bouquet of feverfew to her and she stared down at the flowers blankly before looking back up at him. Her eyes had lightened considerably in the last few minutes and her face had settled from its grim disposition into a soft look of confusion. Gendry gently shook the bouquet at her until she took them, still looking unsure. “The old man isn’t going to get any more from me. You should have them.”

She took the flowers and held out her free hand to him, “Thanks, I think. Arya Stark, by the way.”

He took her hand, “Gendry Waters, it’s nice to meet you. Sorry for bringing flowers to a shitheel.”

Arya giggled and Gendry was entranced. “I forgive you,” she said.

He smiled, “Can I make it up to you?”

“More than the old bastard’s flowers?” she asked, still staring up at him. Gendry realized they hadn’t released hands after introducing themselves.

“Can I buy you a drink sometime?”

Arya smiled and gave him her number before turning away. Gendry sat down at his mother’s grave after a moment before grinning to himself, “Did you see that, Mum?” 


End file.
